Ford Announces Its Battery Development Center Will Be Located In Romulus, Michigan

Ion Park, Ford’s new global battery center of excellence will be built in Romulus, Michigan just 20 miles west of central Detroit.

“Ford already is delivering on our plan to lead the electric revolution with strong new vehicles including Mustang Mach-E, 2022 E-Transit available late 2021 and the 2022 F-150 Lightning available from spring next year,” said Anand Sankaran, Ford Ion Park director. “The new lab will help Ford speed up the battery development process to deliver even more capable, affordable batteries and is part of Ford’s renewed commitment to making Michigan a centerpiece of its focus on EVs.”

The center represents 54 percent of Ford’s $185 million investment in developing, testing, and building vehicle battery cells and cell arrays. It is also part of a wider $30 billion investment in electrification that the company is committed to by 2025.

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Ford says it will refurbish an existing 270,000 sq-ft facility for Ion Park, which will house 200 engineers and include world-class pilot-scale equipment for electrode, cell, and array design, as well as manufacturing engineering and innovation.

Using those facilities, the automaker will use the tech center to test new manufacturing techniques that will allow it to research and quickly scale breakthrough battery cell designs with new materials.

Engineers at Ion Park will work with experts across a variety of departments within the company including its Battery Benchmarking and Test Laboratory, the Ford Customer Service Division, as well as with suppliers and partners.

Ford has separately committed to building the all-electric F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck at its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in nearby Dearborn, Michigan. The company also says it will reposition its 50-year-old Van Dyke Transmission Plant to produce electric motors and electric transaxles for hybrid and electric vehicles, renaming the center the Van Dyke Electric Powertrain Center.

“Ford’s investment in battery research and development in Romulus will support hundreds of good-paying jobs, attract innovative talent to Michigan, and help us continue leading the world in advanced mobility and manufacturing,” said Governor Gretchen Whitmer. “Ford is an American icon that has left its mark on the world over a century, and with the research that will take place at Ford Ion Park, they will shape the next century while reducing emissions and accelerating electrification.”